Professor Jake Grumbach’s article “The NBA Strike is a Big Moment for Athlete Activism–and the Labor Movement in America” was published in Vox today. The article explores the wave of strikes in the professional sports world following the NBA strike, announced days before the playoffs began, in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August. They write that while activism has long played a role in professional athletics, “something different also happened last week. The NBA players went on strike, shutting down their industry (at least temporarily) and demanding concessions from their employers before returning to the court. This act of workplace stoppage represents the next step in athlete protests. Beyond raising awareness or starting conversations, striking has the potential to bring about change by grinding an industry’s gears to a halt.”
To read the entire analysis of the NBA strikes and the role of organized labor in movement mobilization, click here.
